TikTok star turned singer-actress Addison Rae earned her first Billboard Hot 100 entry this week, debuting at No. 86 with “Diet Pepsi” after steadily climbing the streaming charts.
With this single, Rae became the second TikTok star to enter the Hot 100, following Bella Poarch’s 2021 hit “Build a Bitch.” It’s one small step for a woman but a giant leap for TikTok stars breaking into the music industry.
“It’s been a few years since she was popping and locking on TikTok — now, we’re the closest we’ve ever been to witnessing Addison Rae’s breakthrough pop star moment with ‘Diet Pepsi,’” Billboard said.
More than a catchy pop track, the diet soda song signaled Rae’s strategic push to solidify her presence in the music industry, proving she’s evolving beyond her social media roots and aiming for long-term success.
It marked her first major-label release following the debut of her EP, AR. In March, she was also featured in a remix of Charli XCX’s “Von Dutch” after collaborating on the AR track “2 Die 4.”
“A fun fact that you don’t know is I wrote ‘Diet Pepsi’ the first day I met the two girls [Luka Kloser and ELVIRA] who produced it. And so it was fully female-written and -produced,” Addison said on Morning Mash Up radio.
She also revealed that her longtime collaborator and pop mentor, Charli XCX, helped rename the song from the original title “Backseat” to “Diet Pepsi.”
The Louisiana-based popstar first gained fame on TikTok, where she is now the fifth most-followed person with 88.8 million followers and 5.7 billion likes, the second-most on the platform.
Her rise to fame led Rae to roles in several film and TV projects, including Netflix’s He’s All That in 2021 and Thanksgiving in 2023.
‘FUTURE OF POP’
Despite releasing the same week as Shawn Mendes and Katy Perry, Addison Rae outpeaked both and continues to gain in streaming, while fans claim the veteran acts are flopping.
Mentorship and collaboration have been vital to Rae’s rise, with “Diet Pepsi” serving as a masterclass in how she has leveraged industry connections to refine her sound and elevate her credibility.
“Can we appreciate Addison Rae’s visual and sonic growth since 2021? She’s really improved so so much and I think it’s time that the general public starts to recognize that. She could easily be the next big thing in pop music,” X user @JGOTITBAD said.
“I have played ‘Diet Pepsi’ by Addison Rae no less than 20 times today, she is the future of pop,” another X user @theJoeMichaell expressed.
Indeed, the Sean Price Williams-directed music video for “Diet Pepsi” showcased how Addison is here to stay, both an artist and businesswoman, blending retro-inspired aesthetics with seamless brand integration that shows her ability to merge commercial success with creative output.
“I’m writing, I’m writing a lot of stuff. Working on more music. Things are coming. Stay tuned,” the TikTok star teased in an interview for the MTV VMAs 2024.